Reserves owned by bushmen offer immersive safari experience

>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=Z3WiAY1qyTg

(28 May 2016) LEAD IN: • In South Africa many communities have been lodging claims to regain land taken away during the previous regime. • Now visiting tourists can spend time with a successful land claimant community and learn about their culture. • • STORY-LINE • This wildlife is typical of the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa. • Over time, these animals have adapted to the extreme climate, getting moisture from roots and plants such as the oryx cucumber and the tsama melon. • These tourists are walking in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park on the South Africa-Botswana border, and are being guided by John Titus. • Titus is from the local Mier community who jointly with the Khomani San community won a post-apartheid land claim in 2002. • This guided walk is run by !Xaus Lodge which is on the land these communities successfully reclaimed, and the lodge directly benefits these communities. • Titus learnt a lot of his bush skills from his father while growing up in the area. • Titus explains the uses of the devil's claw, one of many natural medicines of the Kalahari. • It's a medicinal plant. People also use the roots. You can make a powder out of it, or you can make a tea out of it. Very good for blood pressure, kidneys, arthritis, even for stomach cancer. I think you can buy it worldwide in a tablet form by the name Harpago. Since 1958 the research on the medicinal value of this plant was conducted in Germany. • Jennifer Gooden is visiting from the US. • I thought it was a beautiful walk. I really enjoyed learning about the local culture and the uses of the medicinal plants. I really appreciated hearing from the perspective of John, our guide, the deep understanding of the ecology, and the way the whole ecosystem works together, and how people have utilised that ecosystem for such a long time, she says. • !Xaus Lodge is situated within the 50,000 hectares that the Mier and Khomani San successfully reclaimed from the South African government. • They had been evicted from the area to make way for what is now known as the Kgalgadi Transfrontier Park in the 1960s. • Lodge Manager, Anthony Manley explains how the communities are involved today. • It's owned by two communities, the Khomani San, which are your Bushmen, and the Mier people. They benefit from the lodge in terms of the fact that they are owners of the lodge as well as the ground where it is built on. And the funds that are raised here are then shared amongst the communities as a profit-share and a rental, he says. • The Khomani San community - who are South Africa's First Nation people - are stakeholders in the lodge. Tourists who stay at !Xaus get a chance to interact with members of the community at a dwelling 500 metres away. • Groups of Khomani San also visit the lodge in shifts. • Although now semi-westernised, these San who have returned to their ancestral area, are trying to hold on to some of their traditional ways. • Khomani San elder Lydia Kruiper explains: We teach the children how to read tracks, how to live from nature, food found in the wild, traditional medicine, old stories and dances. • The Khomani San no longer hunt. • They make arts and crafts to sell to visitors. • Visitor Michael 't Sas-Rolfes enjoys the immersive experience. • Billy Hare from tour operator, Rhino Africa explains that immersive tourism is growing in popularity. • The tourists go on safari for sights like this - but now they can also soak up the rich culture of South Africa's First Nation people that is so attuned to nature. • • • Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork • Twitter: / ap_archive • Facebook: / aparchives • Instagram: / apnews • • • You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...

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